26 APRIONA GERMARI. 

some years (Mr. Rogers mentions finding it in 1892), but 
neither the pupz nor beetles’ were known at the Shahdera 
Plantation, where it is reported from, till specimens of both 
were discovered by Mr. B. O, Coventry in 1897. 
Larvee of all sizes can be found in the stems at all times of 
the year, this-clearly denoting that'they take a year or more 
to-mature. Both pupz and beetles were found in the 
middle of July, but none of the latter are said to be discoverable 
in the stems in August. It is thus: probable that the beetle’s 
flight timeis'at’ the commencement of the rainy season. As 
the perfect insect is not to be found later on in the year, it pro- 
bably at once pairs and‘lays’eggs‘on the bark of the stems 
which, being now’ full of sap and soft, will be easily: bored into 
by the young’ still tender mandibles of the small larve. The 
young grubs remain for’a time boring in the sapwood and then 
as they get stronger go into the heartwood and tunnel up and 
down this. Some'tunnels ‘I inspected were 7 to 8 feet and more 
in length. As soon as the tunnel enters the sapwood, branch 
tunnels to the outer surface of the bark are gnawed out at 
intervals for aeration purposes, and the course and direction of 
the tunnel within the stem can be traced by these holes on the 
outside, the holes becoming larger and larger since; as the larva 
grows in size, it necessarily bores a tunnel of larger diameter 
and the offsets to the outside also increase in circumference, 
Careful search has failed to'show that more than one larva is 
ever present in any one stem, and therefore it must be con- 
sidered probable that the beetle lays but‘one egg on any one 
tree. The position on the stem where it is laid would appear to 
vary as Mr. Coventry considers it to be always high up, whereas 
my own observations on some cut stems showed that in these 
cases the larva had commenced its tunnel in the sapwood at 
the foot of the tree. Mr, Coventry wrote :— 
The larve, commencing -high up, burrow down the entire length of 
the stem, and often a considerable way down one of the main roots ... . 
After reaching its: lowest limit the larva appears to hollow out a chamber 
sufficient to enable it to turn round, and then burrows straight up the stem 
again, sometimes following ‘the old gallery and sometimes striking a new 
one. tae 
It is not improbable that the chamber here referred to is 
